Post Four - Tate

Hogshead Evolution

In Rosalie Calvert’s letters, tobacco is discussed prevalently as it is the reason that she comes to live on a plantation. An interesting word that arises within these letters is “hogshead” (Calvert 64). In reference to the unit system that measures the amount of tobacco produced, George Calvert informs H.J Steir that “[his] last year’s Crop of fifty Hogsheads I sold at 10 & 8 dollars, which brought me $4,600” (Calvert 64). While the book contributes a minimal definition of the word, I argue that a deeper look at the etymology of the word “hogshead” makes for a more compelling and deducible footnote/index note.

The provided passage makes note of the uncertainty and inconsistency of the tobacco production and the potential yields. Although not evident in the particular passage, it is clear that tobacco generated a substantial amount of wealth, but also a need for labor, which came from slaves. According to historicist George K. Holmes, while many states realized the importance of tobacco during the Revolutionary War, Maryland began to notice its potential around 1631 (Holmes 395). Because of Maryland’s prescient endeavors, people like H.J. Stier were able to amass wealth and pass it down to later generations, maintaining wealth in the family. The word stems from languages like Dutch and Danish where their words oxhooft and oxehoved translate to oxehead. Somewhere down the line there was a delineation and it was decided that the language was corrupted and changed to hogshead (Hugh). This is revenant because the barrels were said to be branded with the head of an ox. Per the Oxford English Dictionary, the word refers to the actual cask that typically stores liquids rather than a scale of measurement (which originates around 1390). Later, the word evolves to mean a quantity large enough to fill the cask with liquid (1427) or with dry substances (1492), such as tobacco. The abbreviation for the measurement is hhd(s) and the cask was usually 145 gallons. With a full load of tobacco, the hogshead would weigh around 1,000 pounds. So in the context of the letter, Calvert sold around 50,000 pounds of tobacco, assuming that each cask was full. This seems like a pretty good year for sales to me! With that being said, there could even be some explanation that explains what a good year in the tobaccos sales looked like back then. The possibilities are endless along with the questions that could be asked within these letters. A little explanation goes a long way and frames the way the way we read them.

Works Cited

Calvert, Rosalie Stier, and Margaret Law. Callcott. Mistress of Riversdale: the Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hogshead" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 507.

"hogshead, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2020, www.oed.com/view/Entry/87629.

Holmes, George K. “Some Features of Tobacco History.” Agricultural History Society Papers, vol. 2, 1923, pp. 385–407. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44215783.